Using the tomato plant as their model, Lippman and CSHL co-authors, Cora MacAlister, Soon Ju Park and Ke Jiang, show that loss of control of the timing of flowering, such that the flowering program turns on too fast, results in production of only a single flower on each branch, rather than the usual 7 to 10. Conversely, slowing down the flowering program enables more flowering branches to grow, which means more fruit.